


Going Off Book

by afteriwake



Series: A Thousand Different Lives [16]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Acting, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Theatre, Asking out on a Date, F/M, First Kiss, First Meetings, Going Off Book, Happy Molly Hooper, Improvisation, Mild Language, Molly is an Actress, Nervous Molly Hooper, POV Molly Hooper, Sherlock Wrote The Script, Sherlock is a Director, Surprised Molly Hooper, Surprised Sherlock Holmes, auditions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-03
Updated: 2018-10-03
Packaged: 2019-07-24 11:11:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16173896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: Molly has been in Sherlock's orbit for four years now but never said a word to him. In her effort to break out of her shell and do something with her dream of acting she auditions for his university play and gets more than she expected.





	Going Off Book

**Author's Note:**

> Ages ago, **herongraysstairss** asked for a Sherlolly ficlet with a specific prompt by number but I lost the list so I substituted the prompt for a different one of that number when **raksh1206** claimed it today to help me reach my milestone. Enjoy!

“Go then, leave! See if I care!” She frowned at the script and then looked over at the director. “Umm...excuse me?”

“Yes,” he said, looking bored. That didn’t bode well for this audition in the slightest, she realized. Yes, it was only a college production, but she wanted to get over her stage fright and accomplish at least one thing she was proud of that wasn’t an academic achievement before she graduated uni.

And...it didn’t help Sherlock Holmes was directing the original one-act play.

Oh, she’d fancied him since her first day on the campus He’d decked a boy for lifting up another girl’s skirt to get a knicker shot and then dodged the wobbly attempt the bloke had to hit him back before laying him out on the ground. Then. Then! He walked the girl back to her dorm like they were old friends.

And when the girl had been in one of her classes a few days later, she’d found out the _were_ in fact, old friends, and had she had more reaction time she’d have done the same to the insolent bloke or worse. That was how Mary Morstan had become her best friend, and she’d also gotten to know her boyfriend John very well, too.

But she’d never gotten the nerve to talk to Sherlock before, not for four entire years almost, until today.

“Could I...have a partner? To act the scene out with? I mean, I know she’s angry but I’d much rather do the whole scene. It’s a brilliant piece of work.”

His head snapped up and his eyes widened, it seemed, when he finally noticed who was on stage. He gave her a lopsided faint smile and a negligent shrug. “I wrote it, I’ll do it.”

This time it was her eyes getting wider. “You wrote it, Sherlock?”

He nodded as he easily vaulted onto the stage and then stood up. “Yes, I did. It’s my passion, for now. While I’m taking a break from the violin.” He moved over to her and then put his hand on her shoulders, moving her downstairs a bit. “Take it from ‘You’re an arse, Matthew.’”

He let go of here and moved away physically a few feet away. “You’re an arse, Matthew,” she said, just barely glancing at the script. “You don’t give fuckall towards my feelings, and I swear, if you were the last man on earth I wouldn’t get someone to piss on you to put a fire out on you.”

Sherlock opened his mouth to respond and then closed it before moving towards her. He pulled the pen from behind his ear out and crossed out the line, and scribbled in a new part. His handwriting was just a tad messy but it was legible. “Let’s do it again with the adjustment. You’ve got the spirit but it’s a clunky line.”

She nodded, emboldened by the praise. She glanced at the script to take in the changes and then started again, this time advancing on Sherlock to say the line. “You’re an arse, Matthew. If you were dying and needed mouth to mouth, I swear, I’d just let you die. You’re the worst of all sorts of men.”

Sherlock scoffed as she stopped just in front of him. “And what do you know about the worst sorts of men?” he asked, going completely off book.

Her mind blanked for a minute and then she tossed the script aside, hauled off and slapped Sherlock across the face, leaving a pink mark on his face. “I know you don’t care about who you hurt in these little games you play. I know you don’t care about _me_ at least, or you’d know someone else played these games before with me and broke my heart. You’re a cold, heartless bastard and if you ever find love, I hope you lose it just as quickly.” She turned on heel to walk away, as while she’d gone off book too she felt that was what would be best for the scene, but Sherlock grabbed her arm and spun her back, gripping her arms in a way that looked like it hurt to anyone observing but was actually quite gentle. “You love me,” he said.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re special but you’re such an arse that you can’t even see it. You want the worst out of everyone to come through but when someone calls it out on you...you just shut them out. You cross them off your list of people to give two shits about and put them on your list to play games with. I thought I was special to you but I guess I was wrong.”

“You are special,” Sherlock said softly, and then he let her go.

“Then show me I am, dammit.”

He bent his head down and pressed his lips to hers. There was no kiss in this scene, her mind screamed, but after a moment she melted into the kiss, melted into his hold on her and kissed him back full force before pulling back and looking at him with bruised lips and a dazed expression.

“That was...better than the shite I wrote,” he said, letting her go, looking almost as dazed. “We...I...”

“That was brilliant!” came a shout from the audience.

Molly broke out of her daze, turning red. “I am so sorry I went off book.”

“I did it first,” he said. “Would you consider helping me tweak the script? You have a gift.”

“I do?” she asked, surprised.

He nodded. “Mary said you were talented. She was right.” He put the pen back in place behind his ear. “Tonight? I’ll cook.”

“Um...alright,” she said. “It’s a date.”

“It is,” he said with a faint smile, moving around her and leaving her on the stage to scream internally. Whether she got the part or not, she had the feeling she and Sherlock were going to spend quite a bit of this production together...


End file.
